


Food with Friends

by Cornerofmadness



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Buddies, Comfort Food, F/M, Food Issues, Malcolm Bright Gets a Hug, Post-Episode: s01e20 Like Father ...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:22:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: Dani and JT have invited Malcolm out for some relaxation at JT’s favorite bar and he surprises them.
Relationships: JT Tarmel/Tally Tarmel
Comments: 14
Kudos: 86
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Food with Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TourmalineQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TourmalineQueen/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** Not mine, Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver owns it
> 
> **Notes:** written for classics_lover at comment_fic for the prompt Prodigal Son, any, Eat something you never tried before. And for the allbingo prompt of silver and gold

“He came,” Dani said, watching Bright weave his way through the tables in the bar to where they were at standing at the brass rail.

“And he’s in a suit.” Tally sipped her water. 

“He’s always in a suit,” JT replied. 

“Does he own anything else?” his wife asked.

“He was in some long-sleeved shirt when we arrested him that time.” JT shrugged as Dani waved Bright over. “Bro, you’re overdressed again.”

Bright glanced down at his silver grey suit and golden shirt and tie and then back up at JT. “It’s nothing special.”

“T-shirt, jeans, that’s what you wear to a bar…do you own any?” JT shot him a look as Bright stopped next to them.

“Sort of.” He wrinkled his nose. “But I was at an event with Mother before this. Thank you for inviting me out.”

“Figured we owed you one.”

Dani was glad JT had been the one to say it. She’d been walking on eggshells around Bright since his name had been cleared, mostly only seeing him at Gil’s bedside in the hospital. When JT said Tally wanted them all to go out, she’d hesitated and was surprised when Bright didn’t when he was asked. He didn’t seem to hold anything against them but with Gil, Ainsley and everything else on his plate, Dani wasn’t sure Bright had any energy left to be holding grudges actively. Did he feel it though? “Want something to drink? We were about to order some snacks too,” she said, figuring that was nice and safe.

“What’s everyone drinking?” He glanced around, maybe thinking to buy a round.

“I’m on water,” Tally said, “And Dani’s commiserating.”

Bright nodded, his gaze slipping to her. Dani could almost hear him wondering if she didn’t drink because of her past as an addict. He knew why Tally wasn’t drinking. 

“I have beer.” JT hoisted his glass.

“I think I’ll have water as well.”

“They have a wide variety of craft beers, not the cheap stuff,” JT said, protective of his favorite bar, probably thinking Bright considered it not good enough for him.

“Tempting but to be honest, with everything I’ve had to up my meds.” He sighed, dropping his gaze to the table. “I’m not sure it will mix well.” 

Dani rested her hand on his arm briefly, seeing the tightness in his jaw relax. “Nothing wrong with water.”

“JT said something about playing games,” Bright said, maybe as a deflection or maybe actual interest though Dani struggled to see him at play. It was hard to imagine.

“We could shoot pool again.” JT beamed, and Tally slapped a hand across his belly.

“I’m trigonometry challenged,” Bright replied.

“That’s not the only challenge.” JT snorted.

Bright eyed him. “Told you, squash is the sport I learned.”

“If I ignore the fact that suit costs more than I make in a month, it’s easy to forget you’re a rich white dude, and then you come up with something only rich white dudes play,” JT replied.

Bright shrugged. “I’d protest but in my school, everyone regardless of ethnicity were rich as hell. Do we have choices other than pool?”

“Actually I’m not feeling like bending over a pool table myself,” Tally said. “How about darts?”

“If that’s what everyone wants, I can try,” Bright replied gamely.

“Okay, let’s go claim that table over there.” Tally pointed. “Bring that menu, Dani. I’m taking that eating for two to heart.”

“How are you feeling, Tally?” Bright asked, following her to the table close to the dart board. 

“Pretty good. A little morning sickness which can be any time of day, let me tell you, but for the most part it’s been manageable.” She smiled at him as he pulled out a chair for her. JT shook his head.

Bright ignored him and pulled out one for Dani too. “Glad to hear that.”

“But are _you_ okay? I know it’s been tough,” Tally said, taking the menu from Dani.

Again Dani felt gratitude to the Tarmels for asking what she wanted to know and couldn’t find the voice to ask herself. It wasn’t her imagination when he glanced at her before answering. How much did he blame her for not fully believing in his innocence?

“I’m not doing that well. Mother is a mess, which is why I went with her today. I usually ditch those charity events if I can but having two kids arrested for murder, realizing she was a pawn in Endicott’s power game, seeing Gil hurt like that, she’s struggling. I’m trying to hold her up but two drowning people…” He shook his head. “I’m grateful to get out of my head for the night so thank you for asking me along. I appreciate it and that’s all I need to say about it. I don’t want to drag everyone under with me.”

“But you know we’d listen if you need to talk.” Dani finally found the words.

He smiled. “I know.”

He might know but he hadn’t reached out, at least not to her. Gil wasn’t up to it. Maybe Edrisa, his biggest defender, was who he was confiding in and Dani missed being that person. She should forgive herself for her role in the arrest and call him to check on how he was faring. 

“Tell me I’m not the only one eating,” Tally said, changing the topic for him. He shot her a look of relief.

“You know you’re not. I already know what I’m getting. You eating, Bright?” JT asked.

“What’s good?”

“It’s your typical bar food but it’s all good,” JT replied.

Tally turned over the menu. “I know what I want.”

He peered at the menu. “I…have never had any of this.” Bright admitted slowly.

“Never?” Tally side eyed him.

“You’ve been in bars, right?” JT asked. “In college at least.”

“He went to Harvard,” Dani reminded him.

JT rolled his eyes. “Probably had lobster rolls and white wine there.”

“I’ve been in bars. I just don’t eat much. You know that,” Bright huffed, defensively hunching up his shoulders. “I’ve had baked brie. Is that close to fried mozzarella?”

“Not even close and is nothing like that stench cheese you had in your fridge that you wanted me to make you a grilled cheese from.” Dani bumped shoulders with him. “I like the chili fries.”

He turned huge eyes on her. 

“Come on, bro. You’ve had to have had chili fries!” JT polished off his beer.

“I’ve had chili and I’ve had fries but never together. Just like I’ve had soft pretzels but never with beer cheese.” He tapped that menu item. 

“Sad.” JT shook his head again. “It seems impossible that you haven’t tried some of this before.”

“It’s not what is normally served in the places I’ve been,” Bright argued.

“He’s trying hard not to say he’s too posh for this, JT. Let him be,” Tally scolded. “Do you like pretzels, Malcolm? I promise you the beer cheese is to die for.”

“I do like pretzels.”

“I’m getting the jalapeno poppers,” Dani said. “Surely you’ve had those. Gil loves them.”

“Gil feeds me things he thinks I can eat without getting sick. He doesn’t give me those. I want to try them. I want to try everything!”

“That sounds risky,” Dani said.

“I want to live dangerously.” Bright grinned, almost maniacally.

“Dude, you already do that every case and it rarely ends well,” JT reminded him.

“Don’t care. I’ve never had these things. I’m obviously lacking judging by your expressions. I have to try something.”

“How about we all order something different and share family style?” Tally suggested.

Bright wagged a finger at her. “Great idea. My treat.”

“You don’t have to buy for everyone,” Dani said.

“I don’t mind. I’ve never been able to do something nice for everyone and you’ve been kind to me since Gil brought me onto the team,” Bright argued. Dani wanted to point out that wasn’t entirely true. She and JT had openly resisted him and they had arrested him. It frightened her that to Bright this still counted as people being kind to him.

They let him have his way and ordered the chili fries, jalapeno poppers, fried pickles, pretzels with beer cheese, fried mozzarella and boom boom shrimp along with another round of waters and a beer. JT fetched the darts for them and handed off one to Bright who frowned, fingering the plastic tip as if disappointed it wasn’t metal.

“Are we playing teams or everyone for themselves?” he asked.

“Teams. Have you played darts?” JT’s eyes sparkled, and Dani knew he was thinking up mischief.

“Once or twice, not usually with the electronic ones.”

“Give it a try,” Dani encouraged him.

Malcolm stood, toed the throw line and gave it a go, barely hitting the board. He wrinkled his nose. “Lighter than I expected.”

“You get the idea though.” JT clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Me and Tally versus you and Dani.”

“I was thinking me and Tally,” Dani protested, and Bright’s expression fell. He actually wanted to be with her in spite of everything. “But okay, sure.” 

“And like with the pool we shot last time, let’s make it interesting.” JT took a twenty out of his wallet.

“Fine.” Bright put down his money but he let Dani have the darts first.

She wasn’t as good with darts as she was with pool but she knew JT wasn’t either. Tally had mastery of all bar games as far as Dani could tell. Bright took his turn and hit the triple twenty with the first dart, triple eighteen with the next and bullseye with the third. He turned to them, drinking in their stunned expressions with a huge shit-eating grin.

Bright’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “What?” 

“You played me!” JT accused.

“Is it my fault you forgot I’ve medaled in axe throwing? I’m _great_ with thrown weapons.” Bright buffed his knuckles against his chest which would have looked more impressive if he wasn’t ruffling up a thousand dollar tie. 

“Oh shit,” JT groaned. “You sure we can’t go play pool instead?”

“Pretty sure,” Bright replied merrily and went on to own JT at every throw. 

Dani watched Malcolm claim his win. She half expected him to turn it down but seemed to get it would have insulted JT if he had. Next round, JT didn’t repeat the wager though and they played for fun. Well, she and Tally played for fun. Dani felt certain the men played for blood. Bright looked like a kid at Christmas when the food came out. His head swiveled back and forth surveying it, as he fought to make a decision where to start first.

“Try that cheese and pretzel bite,” Tally suggested.

Daintily Bright speared a soft pretzel bite and submerged it in the gooey cheese. An expression of pure bliss unlike any Dani had ever seen on his face before blossomed. “Mmm, that _is_ good. This tastes like it’s all for me and you’re on your own,” he replied, and Tally laughed

Dani pushed a jalapeno popper onto his plate. “Dip it in the ranch,” she instructed.

He obeyed, fanning his mouth as steam trickled out. Dani giggled, nibbling the tip off her own popper. “I see why Gil likes this.” He helped himself to some chili fries, fried pickles and the shrimp, arranging them on his plate artfully, like something he probably got at those charity functions of his mother.

“You should take it slow,” Dani warned. “With that tricky stomach of yours.”

“I’m good,” he promised her.

“Betting Tally’s not the only one throwing up in the bathroom before the night’s over.” JT chuckled.

Malcolm rolled his eyes and munched down a pickle. They all ate merrily, played a few more rounds of darts before Tally declared herself too tired to go on. She nodded to Bright and gave Dani a look, maybe playing match maker, maybe worried because he had quieted some and looked a bit pale. Either way, he accepted Dani’s ride home.

XXX

Dani arrived at Bright’s apartment with coffee and donuts in hand, the weird blackberry basil ones he liked. When he opened the door, she took a step back. The Hulk had nothing on how green Bright was. “I brought breakfast but I’m not sure you’re up to it.”

He shook his head, waving her in. “I think the chili fries did me in.”

“No, I think it was everything you ate. You barely eat normally, and last night you gorged. You should have expected this.” Dani strode in and put the donuts on the counter. She caught his chin, raising his gaze to meet hers. His eyes were sunken but he looked somehow still happy with himself.

“I did.”

“I was going to ask if you wanted to go see Gil,” she said. It was Saturday and she’d been working hard, not able to get into the hospital. “But you don’t look up to it.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m pretty sure I’m empty now.” He rubbed his belly ruefully. “Shall we take the donuts with us?”

“Sure. Do you want the coffee?” 

He accepted it gratefully but was content to sit quietly listening to her in the car as she drove to the hospital. Before they got out of the car, Dani took his hand. 

“Are we good, Bright?”

“What do you mean?”

She thinned her lips. “You know.”

“You followed the evidence. Maybe you should have believed me and dug deeper but we can’t change that. People make mistakes. Real friends forgive those, right?” He smiled at her, curling his fingers up with hers.

“Right.” She squeezed his hand but let go before it could get too heavy. She wasn’t the hugger Edrisa was. For her, that hand squeeze was a tight embrace.

When they got to Gil’s hotel room, Mrs. Whitly was already there, bedside, talking to him and holding his hand. Dani exchanged looks with Bright who seemed as surprised as she was. This was going to be interesting.

“Hello Gil, Mrs. Whitly,” Dani called. “I brought someone.”

“And we have donuts,” Bright said.

Mrs. Whitly pushed back from the bedside, a faint blush on her cheeks and then she widened her eyes. “Malcolm, you look awful! It’s not contagious is it?” She put herself between him and Gil.

“It was all the bar food he wolfed down last night.” Dani chuckled.

Mrs. Whitly and Gil both raised their eyebrows. “Bar food? So that’s where you were so eager to go.”

“It was delicious and so was beating the pants off JT in darts.”

Gil beamed. “Good for you.”

Dani’s phone vibrated and she took it out reading JT’s text. She returned it. “JT wanted to know if he owed Tally money. I told him he was safe.”

Bright scowled. “Did he bet I threw up?”

“Told him his wife isn’t the only one with morning sickness.” Dani grinned.

“For that, I’m eating all your donuts.”

“No you’re not. You’re so green you won’t get through one.” Dani hip bumped him.

He sighed and tossed himself in one of the chairs, as his mother sat back down. “It was worth it.”

“It reminds me of when Jackie and I took you to the state fair.” Gil put a hand on his gut as he tried to turn to see Bright. “You ate your weight in cotton candy, fried Twinkies, elephant ears and funnel cake.”

“He threw up for two days.” Mrs. Whitly shot Gil a withering look.

Gil tried to laugh but it ended in a pained grunt. “He did. “What was your favorite last night?”

“Toss up between the fried pickles, the chili fries and the soft pretzels in beer cheese.”

“Fried pick…” Mrs. Whitly trailed off.

Dani laughed because she was pretty sure that the best part for Bright right now was the horror on his mother’s face or maybe the pride on Gil’s. She couldn’t have imagined something she had taken for granted, bar food, the typical chain-restaurant appetizers, would be alien to anyone. Tally had been right on the nose. Bright was raised too posh for it but he’d embraced what she and the Tarmels had offered him. Yes, it made him sick but she bet he’d do it again, maybe in more moderation next time. She needed to invite him out again, make sure he was okay. He was worth the effort.


End file.
